Tokyo: The life of a literary giant begins with home self-defense!

Chapter 55: The interview became more famous than the article 3
Three days ago, Shinchosha editorial department.

After explaining to his wife that he did not go out to fool around all day, Ono Taro returned to Shinchosha humming a song.

"Mr. Ono, it looks like we've had a good harvest this time."

"Not bad. It's worth my trip to Yamanashi Prefecture on the winter solstice."

When I walked to the entrance of Xinchaoshe, I chatted with the security guard as usual.

Taro Ono handed the security guard a cigarette with a smile.

The cigarettes were American brand Marlboro, not very expensive, but because they were given by Taro Ono, Mishima held them between his ears with some care.

"That young man is lucky to be favored by you."

Shinchosha has almost no precedent of publishing works by blank-paper writers. Most of the time, it invites famous writers or authors who have won important newcomer awards that year.

Looking at Taro Ono's expression, Mishima was almost certain that the boy from his hometown was selected.

"Tsk, it's trendy."

Mishima couldn't help but feel a little emotional. Although the sales of the major literary magazines were not the highest, being able to enter them almost meant that Ryukawa Toru had stepped into the literary world at the age of eighteen.

"Yeah, he got lucky."

Thinking of Ryukawa Toru's indifference to him, Ono Taro's face twitched.

Walking into the gate of Shinchosha, there was a regular meeting this morning regarding the publication of the finalized monthly magazine.

I returned to my editorial team and said hello to a few colleagues.

"Editor-in-Chief."

A colleague next to him slid his office chair over to Ono Taro.

The actions and greetings were somewhat casual. In normal workplace culture, one should be respectful to seniors or superiors, but Ono Taro is a relatively easy-going person, and the editorial team does not pay attention to this.

"Hmm? What's wrong, Watanabe?"

Taro Ono was thinking about how to talk to the editor-in-chief of the editorial department while looking at the young man in a white shirt next to him.

It's already the coldest time of the year, and this editor is still wearing such thin clothes.

Young people are really energetic.

The editor was thinking about it when he heard his subordinates whispering
"My colleagues from Group 2 told me that Editor-in-Chief Muroan from Group 2 is going to trouble you again during today's regular meeting."

The Xinchao Society is so large that there are more than thirty people in the editorial department alone.

Each group is responsible for signing different selected articles, but the group responsible for the "Shincho" monthly magazine has the most power.

"Again!"

Ono Taro smacked his lips.

The reason why Group 1 has great power and good treatment is that they are responsible for selecting articles for the monthly magazine "Shincho". In addition, Shinchosha also has "Weekly Shincho", monthly "Art Shincho", monthly "Novel Shincho" and so on.

Group 45 is responsible for the editorial selection of Shincho magazine, a magazine that caters to conservative readers and has published extreme articles such as "Against the Opposition Party" and "Against the Left".

He is the kind of person that Ono Taro least wants to interact with.

"After all, our Shincho is the most influential literary magazine." A colleague named Watanabe sighed.

Muroyasu has radical ideas and is a staunch supporter of classist literature. He wants to bring his own ideas to Shincho magazine, but Ono Taro rubs his head, thinking it's too much trouble.

"It's nothing more than the excuse of declining sales, but now Kodansha, Bungeishunju and others are doing the same thing, so don't worry about it."

Taro Ono patted the other person on the shoulder and walked out of the office. Jun Watanabe opened his mouth to say that the situation was different this time, but the other person had already left the office.

Inside the room was a middle-aged man with a gloomy look.

When he walked into the conference room, he looked at Taro Ono who was leisurely sitting there and snorted coldly.

"Editor-in-Chief Muroyasu, I heard that 45 copies of Shincho 4.8 were printed last month, an increase of 30% over the same period last year. Congratulations." The other party looked unhappy when he saw him, but Ono Taro bowed to him nonchalantly.

"No match for Mr. Ono."

Muroyasu straightened his high-end suit and sat down next to Ono Taro.

"The number of copies of Xinchao printed last month was over 60."

"68W." Taro Ono raised his eyebrows, looking a little proud.

Today, when pure literature is somewhat restricted, Shincho can guarantee sales of more than 60 copies every month, and Taro Ono has indeed made an indelible contribution.

"running dog."

"What did you say!"

Muroan said this coldly, and Ono Taro immediately jumped up in anger.

"I said you are a running dog of the congressional gang." Muroan sneered and continued,
"You made your debut 10 years ago with 'Group Portrait', which won one of the five major newcomer awards, and became famous with 'Underground', which interviewed victims of the Tokyo subway sarin gas attack. But now you don't allow anyone to publish negative articles about society in 'Shincho'. If you're not a running dog of the Congress, who is?"

Ono Taro rolled up his sleeves and wanted to hit someone, while Muroan remained calm and not afraid of him at all.

"I'm talking to you guys."

As soon as the editor-in-chief walked in, he saw his two editors-in-chief blushing and angry. The middle-aged men in their forties sighed helplessly.

"We quarrel again when we meet."

The entire Shinchosha knew that the editorial team one and the editorial team two were not getting along. Director Nakamura shook his head and walked to the front of the meeting room.

"As always, we will hold our regular meeting before the publication of New Trend."

The first person to speak was the old leader. Minister Nakamura comforted the two literary editors and then pulled out a large blackboard from the side.

"1017895"

"This is the print sales of our magazine for the whole month of November. First of all, I would like to thank all my colleagues in the editorial department for their hard work and dedication."

Minister Nakamura led the applause, and seven or eight editors-in-chief joined in clapping.

Every month, the editorial department of Shinchaosha holds such a regular meeting to summarize sales and make follow-up plans.

Although Shinchosha is a group of intellectuals, it cannot escape commercial operations.

Nakamura pressed his hands together to signal for everyone to be quiet, and then continued:
"But overall it is down compared to October."

The editors-in-chief all looked embarrassed. Pure literature was becoming less and less popular in the market, and this was not only the case with Shinchosha, but also with several other major publishing houses.

"Although the sales issues should be the headaches of the operations and publicity departments, the continuous decline in sales will also make people doubt the ability of our editors to select books."

Nakamura looked around, his eyes focused on the two people who had just quarreled.

"Does anyone have any suggestions?"

The entire conference room was silent. The decline in sales of pure literary works was a fact recognized by the entire industry.

Ever since the economic bubble, Japan has entered a gloomy and depressing atmosphere, with remarks about the incompetence of parliament flying everywhere and writers busy criticizing the government to attract attention. How could anyone calm down and write a good novel?

There was an Imamura who published a while ago, but his family is not short of money, and apart from the "Woman in Purple Dress", there has been no news of any further publications.

"I think"

Muroyasu was about to speak when Taro Ono took a step forward to interrupt him.

"I just received a new manuscript, which may help boost the sales of Xinchao."

Seven or eight editors looked at the chief editor holding the snow-white manuscript and standing next to the minister with a smile on his face.

(End of this chapter)